I AM >writing in response to your front page headline - Refugees check in to hotel - in Wednesday's paper (ECHO, December 18).

Your sensationalist headline plays into the hands of those small minded bigots who think that all asylum seekers are spongers who come to Britain for a cosy lifestyle.

The facts are that many of these people have fled the regimes of their own countries - quite often to escape death, leaving loved ones behind in the process.

The reality of their plight does not of course have the same sensationalist impact. How desperate must it be for someone whose best option is to get arrested to get some food and shelter.

The sad fact is that if these human beings were accommodated in suitable temporary housing they would undoubtedly suffer intimidation and attacks from the racists who thrive on front page headlines like yours.

We are prepared to go to war at any price, allegedly to save the Iraqi people from the regime that these very same people are trying to escape from.

Yet we begrudge them any support once they get to our shores.

Jill Hamilton, Knotty Ash>

I WAS >amazed to read the rather sour comments by Joe Riley in Wednesday's ECHO, on Joseph at the Empire.

On Tuesday Night I attended the show. It was a sparkling performance by all members of the cast, the set and production certainly looked a million pounds worth of dazzling costumes and scenery with amazing hi-tech wizardry .

This was my first visit to see Joseph and the group of friends with me ranged from 25 to 60 - we can hardly be described as "Joseph groupies".

In Liverpool of course we Scousers take great delight in ignoring "experts" who tell us what we should do or "watch", I have no doubt that this show will become the People's Choice over Christmas and the New Year.

I had a fantastic night out. As it's the Christmas Season I must assume Joe Riley is getting into character to play Scrooge!

Kevin Nolan, Roby>

I'D >like to say how appalled I am at the pathetic four year sentence given to killer Mark Wilkinson (ECHO, December 21).

He snuffed out the life of a beautiful young lady. The mother of Nicole Lewis deserves justice for her daughter's brutal death and certainly has been betrayed by the justice system.

He will be released in 18 months but those poor children will have to serve a life sentence without their mother.

Martin Cockerill, Wallasey>

IN >response to John Craig's letter (Echo, December 12) praising Manchester.

Is it no wonder that Manchester has sparkling new buildings, when all their Labour council has to do is jingle their collection box in front of our New Labour government for grant money to shower on them?

Our city always seems to shoot itself in the foot. In all the years we had a Tory government, we had a Labour council.

Now we have a Liberal Democract council and a Labour government. We have no chance of grants unless we go cap in hand to Europe.

Sedge Lister, L8.>

THANKS >to the ECHO for bringing the readers' attentions to the story about the tragic death of innocence (ECHO, December 6, 'Baby dies in city squalor').

To read that the body of a baby girl has been found dead, I have to pinch myself to see if I am only dreaming, and that this really is the 21st century.

Andre Rebello the Liverpool coroner is quite right to demand answers as to how a seven-month-old baby can be found dead in these circumstances.

Name and Address Supplied.>

THE >selection of Will Alsop's 'grand' design for the Fourth Grace is a first magnitude disaster for our city.

This controversial outsider has proven one of the least popular designs in every poll I've seen.

Alsop claims his design to be "in the spirit of the original Three Graces." Well, I'm sorry, but I don't agree - the other Three Graces DON'T> look like a collection of squashed vegetables.

The design strangles its surroundings, suffocating everything around it, bewildering the eye and sucking up all the atmosphere.

The Foster consortium - responsible for the Liverpool Ark design - has a proven track record in Liverpool, having already successfully concluded a number of regeneration projects in the city.

I thought the Fourth Grace was to be a gift to the people of Liverpool, not some tacky dome-alike freakshow for tourists. It is not a Liverpool building and is sure to become an object of derision.

It seems that when it comes to demolishing buildings and debating what replaces them, those who make the decisions have still to learn from the mistakes of the past.

Built by outsiders for outsiders - once again Scousers are reduced to second class citizens in their own city.

Paul Corner, Old Swan>

SO THE >voting public's views on the so-called "Fourth Grace" have been ignored in favour of the least popular building.

This happened in Clayton Square when the results of the public inquiry recommended that the original buildings be retained - the inspector's decision being over-ruled.

This, of course, is why fewer and fewer people, myself included, bother to vote any more as we feel helpless and patronised by those who decide what will happen, no matter what the rabble think.

Our lovely city is becoming a joke with these insensitive buildings, including the new hotel in Manchester Street. This is why I love the cities of France so much. They keep the modern buildings in the outskirts, so the city centres are left complete.

Andrew F Richardson, West Derby Publishing.>

AUSTRALIA >should be told that some lunatics have stolen Ayers Rock, wrapped it in cooking foil and are proposing to put it on the Liverpool waterfront disguised as the Fourth Grace.

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